ROBERT MOSES & THE MODERN CITY:
Remaking the Metropolis

At the Museum of the City of New York

By Glenn Loney

The Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Ave. at 104th St.
212-534-1672

Closing May 28, 2007

Robert Moses obviously loved Automobiles more than People & Neighborhoods.
While it is certainly true that his Expressways out into the Wilderness of
Long Island opened up previously fertile farmlands for thousands of one-family-homes
and apartment-complexes, his Monolithic Roadways in and out of Manhattan also
destroyed old neighborhoods and even lives.

Given his broad powers from the State of New York and the Port Authority,
he was able to remake the map--not only of Manhattan--but also of the five-boroughs
and beyond. It is to Moses' Vision that all those parks along the South Shore
of Long Island are owed. He got New Yorkers out of the steaming, teeming city
for weekend & summer recreation in those parks.

Then there were all those stunning modern Bridges, and the even more impressive
1939 Flushing Meadows World's Fair--with Norman Bel Geddes' GM Futurama showing
the Future dominated by Vehicular Traffic on Automated-Highways!

Some of Moses' most ambitious projects were foiled, such as a Midtown Expressway
that would have divided & devastated Manhattan. He was also prevented
from developing a similar elevated Freeway across the Island over Canal Street.

This show documents it All! There are models, videos, photos, & texts
galore. Robert Caro's magisterial deconstruction of the Moses Myth is saluted,
although he was apparently not involved in the planning of this exhibition.

[Some seasons ago at LaMaMa ETC, Theodora Skipitares created a colorful and
acidly-satiric show about Moses and his Manhattan Projects. Your scribe nominated
it for the Muni Art Society's Brendan Gill Award, but it was possibly Too
Strong Stuff for them…]

There is also a kind of tabloid-newspaper available at the show: ROBERT MOSES
& THE MODERN CITY. This recaps much of the textual & visual material
for your personal-files & future-reference!